Bicycles are a popular form of transportation, especially in urban areas where traffic congestion and limited parking can make driving a motor vehicle impractical. Unfortunately, it is in these busy areas that bicycle thefts are most likely to occur.
To combat these thefts, it is necessary to lock unattended bicycles to a fixed object, or to lock a bicycle wheel to the bicycle frame, or preferably both. This has traditionally been accomplished by passing a chain or cable through the bicycle frame, one or both wheels and around a fixed object. While such cables and chains are relatively easy to transport, they are also relatively easy to defeat with an inexpensive hacksaw or bolt cutter. To better secure a bicycle, therefore, many manufacturers now sell a lock made of a generally U-shaped metal bar which can be passed through a frame and a locking portion for locking the U-shaped bar around a fixed object as described above. Such locks are much more difficult to defeat than the traditional chain or cable; however, they are rigid and thus more difficult to store than a traditional, flexible chain or cable.
The prior art contains many devices for fastening a lock to a bicycle frame, but most are limited to use with locks having certain dimensions. For example, Zane 3,967,476, Zane, 4,155,231, Zane 4,736,921 and Zane 5,076,526 all teach holders for mounting a lock having a particular shape or cross-section. If such a lock breaks or is lost, the owner must either purchase an identical replacement lock or replace both the lock and its holder. This limits the bicycle owner's freedom of choice and prevents him from using a different lock for even a short period of time. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a holder which could be used with a wide variety of bicycle locks and even used to carry other bicycle accessories.